Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from October, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 5:18 pm on October 21, 2018 Permalink  

  The Calm 

  Here it is Sunday evening and you can actually hear yourself think.  The winds have ceased.  The wind has been howling for the last four days.  Sometimes during the nights I would wake up just enough to remind myself it was not the wind of a snow blizzard. 

  MEA is over and Megan is on her way home.  Carrie came this last afternoon and picked up “the goods.”  Megan achieved to completion all of her projects.  It was so satisfying to see her take off and nail all aspects from start to finish.  I believe the only thing I actually did was to fill the steam iron.  “Hands off Grammie.”

  

  Our 14 year old granddaughter Megan with her two finished pillows stuffed to the gills and a cat quilt. A great finish for a weekend get away for her. Priceless!

  Yesterday noon Megan and I did take time out to have lunch at the Encore Café here in St. James.  Who has time to make a meal when we are in the throes of sewing! The cafe is connected to the store called Collage.  Megan was impressed by the selection the store had for a small town business.  We took our time as Grandpa Dennis had gone to Mankato for the Veterans Stand Down at the Verizon Center that his granddaughter Sadie was in charge of.  Each of us had agendas.

  The schedule was completed today with an 8 mile trip to Odin for the Odin Craft Mill.  It is a two weekend event held twice a year.  As we pulled into the town, Megan kept asking where the Main Street was.  We were on it and all that was on it was empty buildings of a time long gone.  I literally saw Megan’s mouth drop when we pulled up to the old feed mill.  That is all we could see from the street side.  I am sure she thought this would be a snooze session.  Once inside I began visiting with some acquaintances and Megan drifted off to check things out.  I did not catch a glimpse of her for the next hour.  The old feed mill is now attached to a two story dairy barn that has been moved in from the country.  That barn is attached to a two story Montgomery Ward mail order catalog house that has been moved in from the country.  It was a lot to take in as there are vendors there from a five state area.  

  When Megan and I caught up with each other we looked, we touched, we chatted about what there was to behold.  In the end, Megan found a candle to purchase.  We did come home with eatables.  A few treats for Megan to share with her family is never a bad idea.  Grandpa Dennis scored with several flavors of fudge candy.  I am looking forward to enjoying the bag of Kettle Corn during the week.

  Dennis and I so enjoyed having Megan choose to spend the weekend with us.  Those times have gotten too far and in between.  There are now violin lessons and skating lessens that need to be worked into her school classes and events.  We will take whatever we can.  Yup, tonight when I have a bowl of popcorn in my favorite chair, there will be a calm in the home from the lack of activity.  Not to worry I have had many memories added for me to enjoy for a long time to come.

   
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  Noreen 5:38 pm on October 20, 2018 Permalink  

  Megan at the Helm 

  

  We had a huge day. Megan is a quick study on the sewing machine. She was loading bobbins, threading the needle and swapping out presser feet. We finally called the day at five. I think at one point the fuzz and threads did do a number on us and we needed to laugh and giggle until we couldn’t. We have part of tomorrow left and I do believe we will get Megan’s projects finished up.

   
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  Noreen 5:20 pm on October 17, 2018 Permalink  

  My aunt in Arizona called and requested a quilt pattern. The search was on here at Stauffer Avenue. The sewing studio is much easier to search through since it was organized last October. There are only so many file cabinets to look through. Since last October there have been few surprises that I have run into. Shucky darn!

  Today I found a surprise. A file folder that was filed with lots of photos over the last 18 years. Many photos that had been with me when I worked at the courthouse. So much for looking for a meager quilt pattern. Dennis and I spent quite a bit of time checking out how tiny Megan and Nicholas were in some of the photos. Dennis had forgotten that at one time he wore mutton chops. I didn’t know there was another way of saying mustache. Needless to say we had a great afternoon in the sewing studio.

  Tomorrow Dennis has our day planned. The patio umbrella and all such patio items need to be in the potting shed before supper. We think we have a lot of fall left but that is only IF we have a fall. Dennis has been going from garage to garage always finding something to tweak. Dennis remembered what Kevin had sent along as far as what his convertible needed in regard to anti-freeze. Indeed this ole cowboy is on the move. Exactly one year ago he was in the intensive care portion of the hospital recovering from his first carotid artery surgery. What a difference a year makes. Special!

   
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  Noreen 5:43 pm on October 16, 2018 Permalink  

  True to Form 

  True to form, Dennis and I had a busy day.  The sun and the wind had a hand in pushing us into checking in with each other as to what was needed.  A week and a half ago there was a wet spell.  On the first day of the drizzle and mist Dennis and I were out seeding the backyard via our garden hose and the seed mousse.  The applicator needed refilling quite often.  The supply of seed and mousse was in the patio porch to keep it dry.  We had gotten some of our oldest carpet rag rugs on board for our muddy feet as we were in and out.  After they had dried Dennis shook and shook to get most of the mud off, leaving a grungy gray rug.  Tuesday’s are the best day to hit the launderette here in town.  A pocket full of quarters was needed.  It’s not that I would not wash them at home, but our economy sized stackable needs to last us for some years to come and the launderette has the huge heavy duty front load washing machines.  We dry them just enough on site so when we get home with them it takes just a bit and then they are draped over the kitchen stools to finish off the job.  Even though the sun is out, there is no way they would dry if hung outside.  

  Dennis couldn’t help it.  He has promised that this will be the last time of running the rider mower around clipping the grass that had grown a bit.  Some was tall, some was small . . . it made no matter to Dennis, he whacked it all.

  I had been keeping my ears open when some of Dennis’ family was around. This afternoon I got my scrap box of fabrics out.  I had gotten the flower feed sacks washed yesterday and today I got out a pattern that used various scraps of colorful fabrics to do applique apples.  No rhyme or reason for colors whether of fabric or of thread.  Would they need to be embellished?  Not!  What fun would that be for me! Fun projects that have high utility.  Priceless.  

   
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  Noreen 5:23 pm on October 15, 2018 Permalink  

  It was pretty much a non-event day. A trip to the eye doctor and of course the eyesight takes a hit from the drops. I did putter around in the sewing studio. I had a load of flour sack towels from Mills Fleet Farm to wash up. Taking out the sizing from the manufacturer is always the first step towards stitching with them. Tomorrow will be a new day to decide what will be shaking out.

   
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  Noreen 5:42 pm on October 11, 2018 Permalink  

  Lots of Freshness 

  Another day that needed to be dealt with in regard to gloom and cold.  How cold was it?  Cold enough that we put in the two plants that have been on the edge of the Koi pond for this summer and quite a few summers in the past.  It would be a shame if we let the frost get them as it might have tonight.  All of the greenery in the patio porch made it look fritzie fresh.  

  After Dennis bundled up he headed to the Koi pond.  The winds of last night had brought the leaves everywhere but most importantly where they were not welcomed . . . the Koi pond.  The water filters needed to be cleaned.  The pond needed scoop after scoop of leaves taken off from the surface of the water and then also those that had gotten water logged and had sank to the bottom.  The water was brown from all the dye in the leaves.  Twelve noon brought us into the house and the heat within the house felt good to cold fingers.  

  It felt like a great time to get some of the pillows and blankets that have been used all season into the washer.  In a perfect world it would have been great to put them on the clothesline.  The clothes dryer did just fine.  Yup, I feel spoiled.  The first years when Orlin and I were married, right up to the time Carrie was not yet two, the laundry was hung out on the clotheslines.  When the diapers froze stiff on the outside lines, Orlin put up multiple clotheslines across the width of the basement.

  During the time that the laundry cycles worked their magic, I checked out the sewing studio.  I had shut the sewing machine off last Thursday.  Seven days of absence was all I could take.  Deciding what to do and how to do it is the best part of the project.  I had purchased for $1.00 each cloth napkins.  I had mentioned this in a prior post.  Fourteen of those napkins that were a plain color left Stauffer Avenue colorfully stitched and folded for a benefit.  It was time to do something with the most undesirable ones.  Plaid in dark colors.  Ugh!  I began pulling out scraps of fabric, a few spools of thread and then hit the library of designs in folders on my computer.  Thank you Kersten!  When Dennis checked on me at four this afternoon, I was in my element.  I was using the applique patterns where a scrap of fabric is then stitched down all under the guise of machine embroidery.  

  It was a great day.  The patio porch got a dose of freshness of the added plants, the freshly laundered blankets and pillows left a subtle fragrance of freshness within the house and my sewing studio has a fresh project underway.  Priceless.

   
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  Noreen 4:11 pm on October 10, 2018 Permalink  

  Yesterday I had posted the all encompassing day I had with technology. Sometime in the afternoon as I had been whizzing by Dennis’ recliner doing the upping and downing into the sewing studio, he asked me why I just didn’t take the HP Notebook to the basement and let it run on its battery. With that, I would be next to the printer and the sewing machine. Kuddos for Dennis thinking of that.

  Within the last weeks we have been on the run with outside work. Many trips to the back yard, front yard and anything in between. The electric tiller had been an extension of my arms for quite a bit of that time. Lots of steps. Lots of good exercise. Believe it or not when we have several days of raining weather and I am housebound, my body doesn’t like it. I look forward to moving for rather long periods of time. Sitting is my enemy.

  You might wonder how this works into the projects of stitching I take on in the sewing studio. I now have my two church tables set so I can easily get around them. It is not unusual for me to actually do walking laps around the tables during a stitching stretch that the sewing machine is doing. Neighbor Jan just smiled when she stepped over one day and I was doing laps. Hey! Stick around older folks. We are entertaining and quite resourceful. I am at the stage in my life that having things set up so I don’t have to exert myself is not healthy. I don’t mind having legs that feel like noodles sometimes. I like knowing that my body and I are on the same page: keeping me going, keeping me upright and keeping me happy.

   
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  Noreen 6:01 pm on October 9, 2018 Permalink  

  What a ducky day. Sunday evening’s showers were unexpected but having the rain continue right up until this Tuesday evening is a bit much.

  When Kevin and Kersten were here on Sunday to till up the yard, Kersten spent time with me and my computer files. Successful machine embroidery goes hand in hand with computer files and folders. Though the sewing machine stitches according to what is on the flash drive that has been installed into the sewing machine, too many files on the flash drive can really drag down the sewing machine reading all that is on it until such time I find what I need. Working with Kersten allowed me to understand how to flip from the DVD drive to the folders I could create in the document portion of the computer and then load a design in the “F” files which is what the flash drive is referred to.

  Today I worked almost non stop with stitching files. My Aunt Lorraine comes to stay with us each year for several days. She is a kindred spirit when it comes to quilting and embroidery stitching. Several weeks ago a package came in the mail for me. It was like Christmas. The package included 18 individual stitching collections. Each collection had approximately 20 designs with the ability to stitch out each of the 20 designs in four different sizes. Four sizes for four different sizes of hoops to stitch from. I had pushed copying these collections off to the side as they intimidated me. After Kersten left, I was ready to tackle it.

  Here it is supper time and I have only three of the collections remaining to put into individual folders on the computer. I named each of the folders in the “Documents” the same as I named the folder on the “F” flash drive. I would have had to have purchased multiple flash drives to accommodate all these designs. I did prof each document file by loading one of the designs in that folder onto the flash drive and then plugged it into the sewing machine. I then printed out the image of all the designs in each collection as the log of what colors of threads to use is important. Once I mail back the original DVDs to my aunt, that tutorial would be lost. My brain feels like mashed potatoes. My legs feel like noodles. Why you might ask that my legs ache? My HP Notebook is in my living room. The printer is in the sewing studio as is my sewing machine. I could have moved the printer to the living room but I don’t trust myself taking the sewing machine up the basement steps.

  After all the dirt work yesterday, I am not sure which was more wearing to my ole body.

   
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  Noreen 5:38 pm on October 2, 2018 Permalink  

  What a grand day for my ole cowboy to have a birthday! It started off with his favorite pastry: apple fritters. A year ago, Dennis slept through his birthday. Much has changed for Dennis with his health. What a wonderful thing for us. Dennis was at McDonald’s by 8:30 to visit with other fellows near or about his age. Dennis grew up in St. James and the stories that can be shared . . . a good thing. This afternoon found Dennis at one of the apartment houses here in town that has a meeting room with a group that gets together for afternoon coffee.

  He did blow in and out to check on me. Ya right . . . he needed to let the jaw relax a bit.

  I stayed in the sewing room for most of the day with great success. Here it is at 6:30 and it is quite dark out and I am ready to close down the studio and put my feet up for a bit. Tomorrow I will be traveling north for some car repair. The tick list for the coming of colder weather is getting short and by no means was my car going to be slighted.

   
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  Noreen 6:44 pm on September 26, 2018 Permalink  

  I have evolved! I used to have a slight heart palpitation when my sewing machine would pop out a “1010” error message. Not anymore. I take that sucker apart until I get success. The “1010” is all about the little thread cutters that act up. Personal growth is wonderful.

  I think I will be commissioned for a project that is taking place towards the end of October. I am looking forward to it as it is for a benefit. Moms love to be needed.

  It’s dark out and time for seeking my favorite chair.